Magic: The Gathering - DotP 2014! Out now!

Alright, so the game comes out on Steam and 360 tomorrow (PSN?). Who's picking it up? I for sure will be getting it, loved the first title on XBLA, still have tons of cards to unlock in that one, and in terms of gameplay and content value, was an amazing deal for $10. Steam has the price listed as $9.99, so hopefully the XBLA will be 800MSP as well. I was kind of worried they were going to raise it based on its success.

But I just started using the cheesy vampire deck on the previous game, plus I need go up just 15k in the standings to reach #1 awww....

So any details? Are all the decks from the the current game going over to the new one? Like how Pinball FX2 handled things (good job on that one).

I just don't see the need to buy this right now when I am still enjoying the first one. Also, and sadly, I don't trust XBLA titles on day one anymore and would rather wait for a sale (4th of July is coming). Even consoles have fallen to the shitty ways of "release first, patch later". Freaking Daggerdale is still broken!

The gameplay in the 2011 version was really fucking fun if you wanted MtG Lite without the hassle of deck building, given that the majority of the MtG userbase plays specifically to build their own decks. The gamecode and netcode especially were utter garbage. I preordered like a little bitch because I most definitely got my money's worth with 2011, and I'm hoping as hard as I can hope that they fixed the retarded shit in 2011. PC, of course.

I really like not having deck building (for online play). It eliminates cheesy exploit ridden decks and that's all the reason I need. Not to mention that almost every deck in the 360 game was fun to play (except Blue). Also never had any connection issues on Live, some hiccups when it first released but they patched it pretty fast.

What have they really improved though? I didn't even know this was coming out. Why not just add more decks? I can't think of anything I would possibly change.

It's been confirmed at $10/800 points across the board. And yes, I'll be picking it up.

They've mentioned that they wanted to give some reward to the people who had the old game, but I haven't seen anything concrete. There are 10 new decks that all seem better put together than the old game, plus two bosses with uber-decks.

Deck modification has been improved as you can now remove cards from the base deck when you add cards you've unlocked. So while you still can't build your own deck you can try to tweak the given ones to be lean and effective.

They've changed co-op a bit; two-headed giant can (FINALLY) be played with four people online instead of requiring two pairs of local players. Archenemy (a variant they launched in paper last year) can be played with up to three players against an AI.

Deck modification has been improved as you can now remove cards from the base deck when you add cards you've unlocked. So while you still can't build your own deck you can try to tweak the given ones to be lean and effective.

I actually don't like this. Now things like the black deck will be nothing but: rack, discard, discard, discard, terror, sengir vampire, win.

I think having to work our way around the cards we felt were "useless" made the game a more true test of who the better player was.

There's still a lot of not great cards in the decks; you're not going to be able to get them to tournament strength. I think they've actually done a decent job in leaving it open ended which cards to take out. As an example, the new artifact deck is blue, black, and white. But there's only a small splash of white cards; you can either try and take these out to focus the deck a bit or expand upon it from the unlocked cards to try and shore up weaknesses in the deck.

Deck modification has been improved as you can now remove cards from the base deck when you add cards you've unlocked. So while you still can't build your own deck you can try to tweak the given ones to be lean and effective.

I actually don't like this. Now things like the black deck will be nothing but: rack, discard, discard, discard, terror, sengir vampire, win.

I think having to work our way around the cards we felt were "useless" made the game a more true test of who the better player was.

This is pretty huge, and goes a long way towards more customization. I for one, will spend WAY too much time on this feature. Now, if only I could control how much Mana I wanted in the deck...

This is pretty huge, and goes a long way towards more customization. I for one, will spend WAY too much time on this feature. Now, if only I could control how much Mana I wanted in the deck...

I really feel like there was something wrong with the way the game was dealing out your library. Rarely did I feel I was "outplayed". When I lost it was because I only had like 2 land the whole game, or the reverse, I had a crapload of land and no damn creatures.

Conversely, when I won, I'd notice the other guy was in one of the exact same situations.

IIRC the suggested ratio of cards to land was 3:1 (way back when I played the card game), it would be nice if they let us at least add or subtract up to 6 lands to/from the deck. Hopefully there will be a minimum number of cards required to be in your deck as well, my preference would be 60.

I also prefer some of the older artwork, the original Sengir Vampire for one was better than what is in the game IMO.

60 cards is still the minimum. When you go to mess with the unlockable cards (each deck has 16) you can either just add them to the deck or replace another card already in the deck with one of them so you'll never be able to drop below the starting point.

I'd say modern Magic decks usually end up in the 22-26 land range (with decks like red burn running less). The decklists I've seen from DotP 2012 all have 25 lands in a 60 card deck which is probably one above where it should be.

I picked up the MtG: DotP when Sony offered it up for $0.00 (for PSN+ members) and had some fun with the game. I might pick DotP 2012 later this summer. (I've got a few games on my plate as it is.)

It'd been years since I'd played MtG (with deck building and such). I recall a MtG PC game that was fun (as long as it didn't lock up from contemplating moves). I just hated trying to find people to play the game with and getting ganked by a 12 year with an 800$ deck sucked.

This version definitely looks cool. I only dabbled in the demo for the first game, and wasn't too impressed....but it sounds like it was solid overall. I really like the idea of 3 v. 1 with those scenario cards. That looks quite cool.

I decided to pick this up a couple days ago... looking forward to trying it out tomorrow. I really enjoy Magic, but have neither the time, funding nor real inclination to get back into the obsessive deck-building aspect. Therefore, even as dumb and un-configurable as the old decks were, it was almost as good as the real thing at a fraction of the price and time-suck. Hopefully, this one will be at least on that level.

If they have a similar promotion like they did for the last game where they give out a physical card (I think it was Liliana Vess for the last one) then I'll probably end up biting. Otherwise, I dunno. It's nice that they've allowed a bit more customization but it still seems really shallow.

They do have the same promation, free foil Magic card. Though I'm not sure which one it is.

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Otherwise, I dunno. It's nice that they've allowed a bit more customization but it still seems really shallow.

It's as deep as it can be given trying to keep an even playing field and remain somewhat inviting to both new and old players. If they were totally custmizable decks, it would be very intimidating for new players, who would also get trounced, and it would also eat into Magic's physical game, as it'd basically be a full digital representation of it. I think it's pretty good all things considered. As long as they keep it well supported with future deck releases.

Anyway, I spent an hour on the new game this morning. The load times are vastly improved, and performance in general just seems better. I like the new UI and everything just seems cleaner, more polished, and having higher production values. I have three decks unlocked so far, but I've only been using the white one. It appears to be very similar to the White/Equipment deck in the previous game (if not the exact same with some new cards). It maintains all the game types from before in addition to Archenemy which seems pretty cool. The only thing I did notice is that Campaign Coop seems to have been removed entirely. This is disappointing as my friend and I really liked to play this mode, we'd hoped this game would have brought campaign coop to Live, but instead it's gone. Although a Custom 2 player Archenemy game is basically the same thing (except you and your ally are totally separate, cant' block for each other, etc, which really changes the strategy), so that's kind of disappointing.

Okay, I've done a bit of looking around and I'm still not sure EXACTLY what this game has to offer. Can someone who owns the thing sum it up for me? Is it just a fancy new skin for MTGO?

Arcade style Magic is the best way I can describe it. You get 10 decks with limited customization and can play against AIs or people. No where near as full featured as MTGO but you also aren't paying buy the pack; the cost of the game includes the decks.

Okay, I've done a bit of looking around and I'm still not sure EXACTLY what this game has to offer. Can someone who owns the thing sum it up for me? Is it just a fancy new skin for MTGO?

It's M:tG, but with prebuilt decks. You cannot build your own decks, you can only alter it slightly (remove cards, unlock cards to add, etc). There's games against bots/boss bots, and you can play against other people via online as well.

Just to add in it. Along with the SP 'campaign' mode, there are also the Challenges which offer game puzzles, basically you're set in a tough situation and have to figure out how to win in one turn, etc. (these are awesome). It also offers MP in Free for All, Two Headed Giant (2 vs 2), and Archenemy (2-3 vs 1 AI with an additional special 'modifiers deck').

So if new decks come out will those be additional "expansions" with extra charges or will it just be updated? I'm pretty on the fence since I already have mtgo (even though I'm awful), but the interface on it is crap

I'm hoping the Challenges get better; all the early ones have been tutorials for the most part.

Yeah, I've only done the first one in the new game, and it was really easy, so I'm hoping they ramp up quite a bit too.

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So if new decks come out will those be additional "expansions" with extra charges or will it just be updated? I'm pretty on the fence since I already have mtgo (even though I'm awful), but the interface on it is crap.

New decks, like the previous game, I'm sure will come as paid expansions. Each expansion included 3 or so new decks, new challenges, an additional segment to the campaign, and new cards for all previous decks in the game, for a couple bucks. Basically the price of a booster pack, so not that bad at all really.

Really enjoying it so far! Almost all of the cards are new to me though (I quit playing back at Visions or something like that), so that helps. I have three decks so far; green and white which you start with, plus a red. The beginner challenges are very simple. I've lost two games, and the AI seems pretty intelligent about blocking, distributing damage, and even bluffing (ie, is he holding a Giant Growth? Do I block his seemingly harmless attack?). Just unlocked Archenemy mode so I'll try that out now.

Post? What post? I don't see any post. There's obviously no way I opened this thread, let it sit for several hours, wrote a reply, realized I was about three hours damn slow, then hastily deleted it so that civbat wouldn't laugh at me. I simply do not make mistakes like that. At all. Ever.

Obviously, the mods are just out to get me. Probably jealous of my rugged good looks.

Definitely will pick up. I got the original and all its expansions on the 360, and will probably do so again.

It's funny how some friends of mine who would never have touched the physical cards, actually got into playing Magic when the original DotP came out. I think the whole DotP concept is great and I'm fine with it not being a MTGO-replacement/equivalent. It's a nice chunk of the overall Magic gameplay and universe, albeit without the collectibe card game factor and full customization, but the real product and MTGO is there for that.

Post? What post? I don't see any post. There's obviously no way I opened this thread, let it sit for several hours, wrote a reply, realized I was about three hours damn slow, then hastily deleted it so that civbat wouldn't laugh at me. I simply do not make mistakes like that. At all. Ever.

Obviously, the mods are just out to get me. Probably jealous of my rugged good looks.

I know what I saw! You can't hide the truth! I want to believe! Moonsharks are everywhere!

Code, as in net code? I only managed to get one MP game in this morning, 3 people vs AI. No lag whatsoever. So far, so good.

Although there was one weird thing this morning. I was playing the white equipment deck. I had a 1/1 creature out who gets Double strike when equipped. I equipped an item (forget what it was, but specifically didn't add First Strike). Enemy attacked with 1/1, I blocked with my 1/1 with Double strike. His creature died and mine lived. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but even with Double strike wouldn't both creatures hit and die?

Although there was one weird thing this morning. I was playing the white equipment deck. I had a 1/1 creature out who gets Double strike when equipped. I equipped an item (forget what it was, but specifically didn't add First Strike). Enemy attacked with 1/1, I blocked with my 1/1 with Double strike. His creature died and mine lived. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but even with Double strike wouldn't both creatures hit and die?

No, if I remember correctly, Double Strike is like doing First Strike and then attacking normally again after that.

So Double Strike includes a First Strike attack, I think.

I would hope the developers would at least get the mechanics of the rules right if they're going to all this effort to program the game. Without correct rules, the game would just fall apart! Or at least, be very annoying and counterproductive.

The only cards I've seen so far which were programmed incorrectly is a 7/4 haste who has to attack every turn (the game doesn't attack with him the turn it plays him) and a card which allows any number of target players to gain 6 life (the game doesn't target with it and just lets everyone gain 6).

I played the first one minus all the DLC, and had a lot of fun with it. It scratches the itch of playing these kinds of games without having to dedicate my life to them. Been there, done that. All I have now is a closet full of cards that I can't use in play, and can't sell even if I wanted to.

I like that they added in being able to remove cards when you add some. That was the only thing I really wanted to be added to the first game. I completely understand and agree with not being able to completely customize decks

It is a bummer about coop. I liked playing with a friend. Being able to play off of one another was a lot of fun.

Although there was one weird thing this morning. I was playing the white equipment deck. I had a 1/1 creature out who gets Double strike when equipped. I equipped an item (forget what it was, but specifically didn't add First Strike). Enemy attacked with 1/1, I blocked with my 1/1 with Double strike. His creature died and mine lived. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but even with Double strike wouldn't both creatures hit and die?

No, if I remember correctly, Double Strike is like doing First Strike and then attacking normally again after that.

I played the first one minus all the DLC, and had a lot of fun with it. It scratches the itch of playing these kinds of games without having to dedicate my life to them. Been there, done that. All I have now is a closet full of cards that I can't use in play, and can't sell even if I wanted to.

I like that they added in being able to remove cards when you add some. That was the only thing I really wanted to be added to the first game. I completely understand and agree with not being able to completely customize decks

It is a bummer about coop. I liked playing with a friend. Being able to play off of one another was a lot of fun.

I look forward to playing this game.

Ya. Double Strike is First Strike plus a regular attack.

You can still play two-headed giant co-op (versus people or AIs), there's just not a campaign for it.

I played the first one minus all the DLC, and had a lot of fun with it. It scratches the itch of playing these kinds of games without having to dedicate my life to them. Been there, done that. All I have now is a closet full of cards that I can't use in play, and can't sell even if I wanted to.

I like that they added in being able to remove cards when you add some. That was the only thing I really wanted to be added to the first game. I completely understand and agree with not being able to completely customize decks

It is a bummer about coop. I liked playing with a friend. Being able to play off of one another was a lot of fun.

I look forward to playing this game.

Ya. Double Strike is First Strike plus a regular attack.

You can still play two-headed giant co-op (versus people or AIs), there's just not a campaign for it.

Ah, okay, then it was working correctly. Interesting that the AI chose to attack with that 1/1 then.

That's a part of it, but there were just as many issues with the singleplayer code. From a technical perspective, it was just a very poorly designed game. I only vaguely recall the specifics instances, but I'm sure others can comment with more accuracy. One example was with creatures that gained a +1/0 counter or whatever. Say I wanted to spend 10 mana to give a creature +10/0; rather than being smart and giving it that +10 all in one go, the game would run its little timer to add that 10 in +1 increments.

Another issue was the artifact deck... one of the sphinxes would create a 1/1 flying creature every time one of your creatures attacked, but each one was created individually with its own timer, resulting in exponentially longer turns as your horde attacked.

Yet another problem was the game automatically enabling voicechat, and not giving even the slightest damn if you had a problem with that. It was just a lot of little shit that ended up making certain matches completely unplayable... stuff that should have been caught during playtesting. I'm a fanboi so I bought 2012 anyway, but I really hope they fixed this stuff.

So far Archenemy is super fun. I love the Scheme cards. Although they don't seem to be game changers yet - in three matches the single opponent never had a hope of winning. 60 life is just a lot to take out when you're getting stomped each turn by a handful of creatures.

That's a part of it, but there were just as many issues with the singleplayer code. From a technical perspective, it was just a very poorly designed game. I only vaguely recall the specifics instances, but I'm sure others can comment with more accuracy. One example was with creatures that gained a +1/0 counter or whatever. Say I wanted to spend 10 mana to give a creature +10/0; rather than being smart and giving it that +10 all in one go, the game would run its little timer to add that 10 in +1 increments.

Another issue was the artifact deck... one of the sphinxes would create a 1/1 flying creature every time one of your creatures attacked, but each one was created individually with its own timer, resulting in exponentially longer turns as your horde attacked.

The dilemma is that running a little timer for each one is actually how Magic rules work. Of course, there are very few edge cases where it actually matters if you react when the creature has gamed +5/+0 versus the full +10/+0 but I understand why they've opted to go that way.

The artifact deck has been nuked from orbit and rebuilt. None of the new decks are capable of creating the kind of triggered action hell that the artifact deck could.

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Yet another problem was the game automatically enabling voicechat, and not giving even the slightest damn if you had a problem with that. It was just a lot of little shit that ended up making certain matches completely unplayable... stuff that should have been caught during playtesting. I'm a fanboi so I bought 2012 anyway, but I really hope they fixed this stuff.

I don't see a setting to toggle voicechat, but I think this is a result of the console first design. Maybe that setting exists in the Steam version.

Edit:

Cadmus the Red wrote:

So far Archenemy is super fun. I love the Scheme cards. Although they don't seem to be game changers yet - in three matches the single opponent never had a hope of winning. 60 life is just a lot to take out when you're getting stomped each turn by a handful of creatures.

We've been beaten when the artifact deck started the game with a 4/6 in play and was able to sneak in Darksteel Colossus.